Florida Senate - 2010 SB 2598
By Senator Bennett
21-01697A-10 20102598__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to a study of alternative energy
3 resources; providing legislative findings; requiring
4 the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida to
5 contract with a professional organization to study an
6 alternative energy policy for the state and develop a
7 renewable energy and economic development investment
8 plan; setting forth the subjects to be studied by the
9 contracting organization; requiring that the
10 contracting organization submit a final report to the
11 Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker
12 of the House of Representatives by a specified date;
13 providing an effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Strategy for promoting alternative energy
18 resources.—
19 (1)(a) The Legislature finds that the energy industry in
20 the United States and throughout the industrialized world is
21 moving toward the use of cleaner alternative energy sources,
22 such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal, which reduce the
23 emission of pollutants and carbon dioxide, as well as reduce
24 dependence on imported fossil fuels. The Legislature also finds
25 that other states have taken steps to hasten this shift to
26 alternative energy sources, using a variety of incentives,
27 regulations, and other policy tools to stimulate alternative
28 energy resource activities for both environmental and economic
29 reasons, principally job creation.
30 (b) The Legislature finds that this state offers tax
31 exemptions to buyers and owners of alternative energy equipment
32 but other incentive programs in the state are fragmented and are
33 mostly developed and implemented by local counties or private
34 utilities. The Legislature finds that if an effective statewide
35 alternative energy policy were implemented to encourage the
36 adoption of alternative energy resources, the result could
37 simultaneously increase the state’s renewable energy generation
38 capacity and create jobs for residents of this state.
39 (2) As a part of the efforts to design an effective
40 alternative energy resource policy for the state, the
41 Legislature intends that, subject to available resources, the
42 Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida shall contract with
43 SRI International to study an alternative energy policy for the
44 state and develop a renewable energy and economic development
45 investment plan. For the study, SRI International shall:
46 (a) Review all locally available literature, including SRI
47 International’s in-house research and databases, to lay out the
48 range of alternative energy policy and program options, focusing
49 on each option’s relative merits and limitations.
50 (b) Examine the alternative energy policies of other states
51 or regions which encourage alternative energy use, and assess
52 the policies or programs that are in place. In order to
53 distinguish and examine the more effective policies, SRI
54 International shall gather data on several benchmark states that
55 exhibit best practices in alternative energy policy.
56 (c) After identifying the different policy approaches used
57 to promote alternative energy, evaluate the details of the
58 approaches that have been the most successful for stimulating
59 investment in and adoption of alternative energy resources.
60 (d) Conduct interviews with stakeholders in the development
61 of an alternative energy policy to discuss and solicit feedback
62 regarding various policy and program options for an alternative
63 energy policy.
64 (3) SRI International shall submit a final report to the
65 Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the
66 House of Representatives by January 15, 2011. The final report
67 must include:
68 (a) Summaries of the interviews.
69 (b) An analysis of the alternative energy policies of the
70 other states.
71 (c) An analysis of the alternative energy policies of the
72 State of Florida.
73 (d) A description of the basic structure and optional parts
74 of an alternative energy plan for use in this state.
75 (e) An initial set of recommendations for consideration and
76 implementation by the Governor and Legislature.
77
78 The Legislature intends that the report recommend a set of well
79 designed, actionable, and appropriate policies based on SRI
80 International’s research to promote alternative energy and
81 statewide job growth in this state. In particular, the
82 recommendations should include whether incentive programs or
83 regulatory requirements should be implemented and how such
84 efforts can be integrated into existing alternative energy
85 research being conducted at Florida universities.
86 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.